082310 Youth theater group takes high honors at state competition

  • By Sharon Haught
  • August 14, 2010
  • 379
                        
For the five cast members who represented the Wayne County Performing Arts Council (WaCPAC) youth theater program at the Ohio Community Theater Association OCTAFest Junior competition on August 7 the road to Columbus was more than just a short two hour drive down I-71. The journey began last spring when WaCPAC held auditions for junior high and high school students from throughout the county for the one act comedy “Five Pound Sack”, the story of a group of students in a Family Living class charged with caring for a sack of flour as if it were a baby. When the number of aspiring actors greatly exceeded the number of cast members called for under the script WaCPAC made the decision to double cast the show, hold two performances and ask a panel of judges to select which cast would represent the organization in the competition. The two casts - one including Sonja Dittmann, Austin Holzheimer, Matthew Kline, Amanda Nelson and Maggie Stutz and the including Genevieve Fisher-Hoadley, Alex Miller, Jessica Tullar, Grace Turner and Michael Viator – rehearsed throughout the summer in preparation for July 31 performances at the Wayne Center for the Arts. Judges Debra Edwards, Tammy Hyde and Andrew Knode selected the first cast to represent the organization at the state-wide competition. On August 7 the cast traveled to the Columbus Performing Arts Center to participate in OCTAFest Junior. When the day-long competition was over the cast, which was lead by director Anna Barrios, walked away with three awards including Excellence in Ensemble Acting for the entire cast, Excellence in Acting for Dittmann and Merit in Acting for Stutz. Launched in 2006, OCTAFest Junior is a state-wide theater competition which brings together some of the top youth theater talent in Ohio. For four of the five years the competition has been held WaCPAC has been selected as one of only seven theater productions to be featured in the competition. WaCPAC’s youth theater program was launched in OCTAFest Junior’s inaugural year when WaCPAC’s board of trustees started to see the significant impact shrinking school budgets were having on performing arts programs. Giving junior high and high school students the opportunity to participate in theater productions became a major focus for the organization. Since its inception the youth theater program has performed to acclaim at OCTA’s state competition. WaCPAC’s first youth theater production, “Saturday Matinee”, competed in the first OCTAFest Junior competition in 2006 and earned six of OCTA’s highest honors including Outstanding Ensemble - the equivalent of the Best Show Award - Outstanding Director, Technical Crew and Acting, Excellence in Acting and Merit in Acting. The following year the group was invited to compete again with its production of “The Write Stuff” and earned eight top honors, including the best show award for the second year in a row and awards for Excellence in Directing, Acting, Supporting Acting and Costuming. Last summer the group was back in Columbus for the 2009 competition with its production of “Take Five,” which earned four awards including Merit in Ensemble Acting for the entire cast and Merit in Acting for three of its cast members. In addition to WaCPAC’s strong theater programs, the group also presents opportunities for area performers to showcase their musical talents through Battle of the Bands and Music of the Night open mic nights. WaCPAC’s season continues on September 18 with Music of the Night at the 120 Beall Avenue building and a reader’s theater production of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow October 29-31 at the Freedlander Park Chalet. For more information on WaCPAC visit their web site at www.wacpac.org.


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